Method and a unit for testing production quality in a line for manufacturing tobacco products

ABSTRACT

Single cigarettes selected as samples at the outfeed stage of a manufacturing line undergo a systematic quality control operation, performed by a testing unit, that consists in verifying a given number of characteristics for each cigarette and generating a set of signals each reflecting the quality of a respective characteristic; the succession of signals, each assigned a value on a predetermined scale, is represented in the form of a graph. Once a significant sample has been processed, the values assigned to all the characteristics of the tested cigarettes are displayed in a table, ordered such that each column will serve effectively as a production report on an individual cigarette.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a method and a unit for testingproduction quality in a line for manufacturing tobacco products.

The invention is applicable to the art field of systems for themanufacture of tobacco products, and of cigarettes in particular,comprising both cigarette maker and filter tip attachment machines,albeit no limitation is implied.

More exactly, the invention is concerned with testing the variouscharacteristics or properties of cigarettes sampled at the outfeed ofthe line during the course of the production cycle.

Among the characteristics of cigarettes subjected to such tests, certainitems are notably important: the weight, the consistency of the fillerat the cut ends, the degree of ventilation, the quality of the print,the integrity of the paper wrap, and the soundness of the join betweenfilter and cigarette.

Conventionally, sample cigarettes taken at the outfeed end of themanufacturing line for quality control purposes will undergo testsconducted by a specialist operator who selects single cigarettes atregular intervals. The samples are subjected to a quality controlprocedure implemented in part visually and manually by the operator, andin part instrumentally by dedicated testing devices.

In practice, the procedure in question serves to verify whether or notthe different characteristics of the sample cigarettes are within givenlimits, which in the case of certain characteristics, at least, will bedetermined by the experience and judgement of the operator.

In the event of at least one among the tested characteristics failing tomeet the standards of acceptance, the operator will identify those partsof the cigarette maker or the filter tip attachment machine to which anydefects found in the finished product are attributable, and proceed totake the appropriate action.

It will be appreciated from the foregoing that the quality controlprocedure in question depends to a large extent on the experience andjudgement of the operator. Consequently, the evaluation of certaincharacteristics presented by the cigarettes is necessarily subjectiveand may not always be made uniformly, even within the scope of a singleproduction run.

The object of the present invention is to provide a method and a unitwhereby all the characteristics of products turned out by amanufacturing line of the above noted type are evaluated on the basis ofrigorously objective criteria that remain constant over time.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The stated object is realized, according to the present invention, in amethod for testing the quality of production in a line for manufacturingtobacco products that consists in sampling a given number of finishedproducts taken from the outfeed stage of the line, then subjecting eachof the sampled products to a step, performed by a testing unit, in whichthe quality of a predetermined number of characteristics is evaluated insuch a way as to obtain a plurality of signals each reflecting thequality of a single characteristic.

The stated object is realized likewise in a unit for testing the qualityof production in a line for manufacturing tobacco products, typically aline equipped with a cigarette maker and a filter tip attachmentmachine, comprising a unit such as will test the quality of a givennumber of characteristics presented by single products sampled at theoutfeed stage of the line and generate output signals reflecting thequality assignable respectively to each of the single characteristics ofeach sampled product, also a central processing and sorting unit bywhich the output signals are received from the testing unit, processed,and used to create video displayable graphs.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention will now be described in detail, by way of example, withthe aid of the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram representing a line for the manufacture oftobacco products, equipped with a unit for testing the quality ofproduction such as will implement the method according to the presentinvention;

FIG. 2 is a schematic perspective representation of the line formanufacturing tobacco products as illustrated diagrammatically in FIG.1;

FIGS. 3 and 4 show two graphs obtainable using the unit of FIG. 1;

FIGS. 5 and 6 show a table and a corresponding graph, respectively,obtainable using the unit of FIG. 1.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

With reference to FIGS. 1 and 2, numeral 1 denotes a production line, inits entirety, for the manufacture of tobacco products such ascigarettes, denoted 2, comprising a cigarette maker 3 and a filter tipattachment machine 4.

The cigarette maker 3 incorporates a plurality of devices and machineunits and, more exactly, is equipped at the upstream end with a cardingunit 5 in receipt of tobacco from an infeed hopper (not illustrated);proceeding downstream, the tobacco is taken up onto a carding drum 6 andprojected by an impeller roller 7, operating in conjunction with thecarding drum 6, into a descent duct or chute 8, thence onto a beltconveyor 9 and into an ascent duct or chimney 10.

The top end of the chimney 10 is enclosed by an aspirating belt 11 onwhich the tobacco particles collect and are formed gradually into acontinuous stream 12 that will ultimately provide the filler for thecigarettes 2.

The stream 12 of tobacco is released onto a strip of paper 13 decoilingfrom a roll 14 along a path that passes initially through a printingdevice 15, and advances into a garniture section 16 where it isenveloped longitudinally by the aforementioned strip 13 to form acontinuous cigarette rod 17.

The continuous rod 17 is fed toward and through a cutting station 18where it will be divided up by a rotary cutter device 19 into discretesegments of predetermined and constant length, and more exactly intosticks 20 of length measuring twice the length of a stick making up asingle cigarette 2.

Numeral 21 denotes a device by which the double length sticks 20 aretransferred, through a set of infeed rollers 22 forming part of thefilter tip attachment machine 4, to a cutting station 23 where eachsuccessive double length stick 20 is separated into two single cigarettesticks 24 by the action of a roller 25 and a disc cutter 26.

The single cigarette sticks 24 are directed from the roller 25 of thecutting station 23, first onto a distancing roller 27 on which the twosticks 24 separated by each cutting stroke are spaced apart axially onefrom the other, then onto an assembling roller 28, whereupon a doublelength filter plug 29 supplied by a respective feed unit, denoted 30 inits entirety, is interposed between the two single sticks 24 of eachadvancing pair.

The resulting assemblies, each consisting of two single cigarette sticks24 and one double length filter plug 29 placed between them, arereleased from the assembling roller 28 onto a roller 31 that forms partof a finishing station 32, comprising a unit 33 by which tipping papers34 are cut and fed to the selfsame station 32, and a rolling device 35such as will take up the stick/double-filter/stick assemblies and thetipping papers 34 and roll each successive tipping paper 34 about acorresponding assembly to fashion a double length cigarette 2.

The double length cigarettes 2 are fed by way of an intermediate roller36 to a cutter device 37 and divided by a cutting stroke made throughthe double length filter 29 to generate two successions of single filtercigarettes 2 appearing identical one to another.

The two successions of filter cigarettes 2 are directed toward anoutfeed stage 38 of the filter tip attachment machine 4, advancing firstonto an overturning roller 39 by which a single succession of cigarettes2 is established, then passing onto a final train of rollers denoted 40in its entirety, along which the cigarettes 2 will undergo furtherfinishing steps of a familiar nature.

As illustrated in FIG. 2 for example, the final train 40 of rollers,supported together with the aforementioned rollers 22, 25, 27, 28 and 31by a vertical bulkhead 41 associated with the frame 42 of the filter tipattachment machine 4, comprises a roller denoted 43 on which ventilationholes are pierced in the cigarettes 2 by a laser generator device 44,and a roller denoted 45 on which the cigarettes are scanned.

Referring again to FIG. 1, the manufacturing line 1 comprises a unit 46by means of which to test the production quality of the cigarettes 2,connected on the input side by way of a single cigarette samplingdevice, indicated as a block 47, to a roller 48 coinciding with theoutfeed stage 38 of the filter tip attachment machine 4.

The unit 46 in question is designed to test the quality of a pluralityof characteristics presented by the single cigarette 2, and inparticular, the integrity of the paper wrap, the consistency of the endfill, the degree of ventilation obtained with the holes pierced by thelaser generator 44, the quality of the print, the weight, and so forth.

With reference in particular to FIG. 1, the quality testing unit 46 isconnected on the output side to a central data processing and sortingunit or CPU 49, connected in turn to a keyboard 50, a video display unit51 and a printer 52. The CPU 49 can also be connected by way of a webnetwork 53 to the Internet, represented schematically by a block denoted59.

Once the quality testing unit 46 has inspected a significant number ofsingle cigarettes 2 (say 10, for example) selected at the outfeedstation 38, the CPU 49 will receive signals relating to each of thecharacteristics tested, which it processes and outputs in the form ofgraphs, as illustrated by way of example in FIGS. 3 and 4, viewable onthe video display unit 51.

The CPU 49 comprises processing means 54 by which each signal receivedfrom the testing unit 46 is assigned a value on a predetermined scalecommon to all of the tested characteristics.

In the graphs of FIGS. 3 and 4, the “x” axis represents the successionof cigarettes 2 subjected to quality testing, whilst the “y” axis ismarked 0 to 10, denoting the values on the aforementioned scale.

Observing the graphs relative to a succession of cigarettes 2 sampledfrom the outfeed stage 38, the quality of production as reflected ineach of the tested characteristics will be readily discernible.Self-evidently, a substantially flat line indicates that the quality ofthe tested characteristic has remained substantially constant over time,whilst an upward trend toward the higher numbers on the scale indicatesan improvement and a downward trend indicates a deterioration.

In the latter instance, the information provided will enable theoperator to take corrective action on the devices of the line 1 to whichthe negative trend is attributable.

The action in question might occur automatically, triggered by feedbackcontrol circuits indicated schematically in FIG. 1 as blocks denoted 55and 56, by way of which the CPU 49 is connected to the various devicesand units of the cigarette maker 3 and of the filter tip attachmentmachine 4.

The CPU 49 further comprises sorting means 57 by which the signalsreflecting the characteristics of each single cigarette 2 tested can berepresented as numerical values in a table as illustrated in FIG. 5.

Accordingly, each column in the table of FIG. 5 provides informationamounting effectively to a “report” on a respective cigarette.

The central data processing and sorting unit 49 is equipped withcomputing means 58 able to produce an overall assessment of the testedcharacteristics for each cigarette 2 sampled. In the example of FIG. 5,each of the overall assessments indicated on the bottom line of thetable is attributed by computing the average of the values assigned forthe single characteristics.

On the basis of the overall assessments produced by the computing means58, the processing means 54 are able to generate a graph of the typeshown in FIG. 6, which indicates the trend of the overall assessmentsrelating to a given series of sampled cigarettes 2.

It will be seen that the line 1 is equipped in conventional manner witha succession of devices serving to monitor the cigarette-making process,and devices serving to reject any cigarettes 2 of which thecharacteristics may not register within prescribed limits. Thus, all ofthe cigarettes 2 scrutinized by the quality testing unit 46 will beidentifiable, at least in theory, as conforming to an acceptancethreshold defined in the graphs of FIGS. 3, 4 and 6, by the line Aparallel to the “x” axis.

Thus, with the graphs described above providing an index as to thequality of a given production cycle, the manufacturer will be able, onthe basis of these same graphs, to select the most suitable market for aparticular type of production lot.

Accordingly, selection means might be installed at the outfeed stage 38of the line 1, with the end in view of organizing the tobacco productsinto distinct lots destined for different markets.

As illustrated in FIG. 1, the system might also comprise a printingdevice 60, associated with the quality testing unit 46 and driven by thecomputing means 58 and/or the processing means 54, such as will impressthe sampled cigarettes 2 with marks 61 serving to indicate the overallquality assessment attributed by averaging the values assigned for allof the characteristics tested, or to indicate the value assigned for onesuch characteristic.

1) A method of testing the quality of production in a line formanufacturing tobacco products, including the steps of: sampling a givennumber of finished products taken from the outfeed stage of the line;subjecting each of the sampled products to a step, performed by arelative testing unit, in which the quality of a predetermined number ofcharacteristics is evaluated in such a way as to obtain a plurality ofsignals each reflecting the quality of a single characteristic presentedby each product. 2) A method as in claim 1, including a further step inwhich the succession of signals reflecting the single characteristics ofthe sampled products is represented in the form of a graph. 3) A methodas in claim 2, including a step of evaluating the signals according to apredetermined scale of values. 4) A method as in claim 3, wherein thescale of values is the same for all of the characteristics. 5) A methodas in claim 4, including the step of displaying a table of valuesassigned to all of the tested characteristics, for each of the sampledtobacco products. 6) A method as in claim 5, including the step ofattributing an overall assessment in respect of each sampled tobaccoproduct, based on the values assigned to a plurality of the testedcharacteristics. 7) A method as in claim 6, wherein the overallassessment is the average of the values assigned to the testedcharacteristics. 8) A method as in claim 7, including a step in whichthe succession of overall assessments attributed to the sampled productsis represented in the form of a graph. 9) A method as in claim 8,including a step in which marks are printed on the tested tobaccoproducts to indicate the overall assessment, or to indicate the valueassigned in respect of a given characteristic. 10) A unit for testingthe quality of production in a line for manufacturing tobacco products,typically a line equipped with a machine for making the tobacco productsand a filter tip attachment machine, comprising a unit such as will testthe quality of a given number of characteristics presented by singleproducts sampled at the outfeed stage of the line, and generate outputsignals reflecting the quality assignable respectively to each of thesingle characteristics of each sampled product, also a centralprocessing and sorting unit by which the output signals are receivedfrom the testing unit, processed, and transmitted to video display meanson which the selfsame processed signals are represented in the form ofgraphs. 11) A unit as in claim 10, wherein the central data processingand sorting unit comprises processing means by which each signalreceived from the quality testing unit is assigned a value on apredetermined scale. 12) A unit as in claim 11, wherein the central dataprocessing and sorting unit comprises sorting means by which the signalsreflecting the characteristics of each tested tobacco product are listedin a table. 13) A unit as in claim 12, wherein the central dataprocessing and sorting unit comprises computing means by which eachtested tobacco product is attributed an overall assessment in respect ofall the tested characteristics, based on the predetermined scale ofvalues. 14) A unit as in claim 13, wherein the overall assessmentattributed to each tested product is the average of the values assignedto the tested characteristics. 15) A unit as in claim 14, wherein thecentral data processing and sorting unit comprises processing means bywhich a graph is generated to indicate the trend of the overallassessments for a given number of sampled products. 16) A unit as inclaim 15, comprising means, interlocked to the central data processingand sorting unit, by which the end products emerging from the line areselected and organized into identifiable lots, according to the trend ofthe overall assessments. 17) A unit as in claim 16, comprising printmeans connected to the quality testing unit and driven by the centraldata processing and sorting unit, by which the tested tobacco productsare impressed with marks indicating the overall assessment or the valueassigned to a given characteristic. 18) A unit as in claim 10,comprising print means connected to the quality testing unit and drivenby the central data processing and sorting unit, by which the testedtobacco products are impressed with marks indicating the overallassessment or the value assigned to a given characteristic. 19) A methodas in claim 1, including a step of evaluating the signals according to apredetermined scale of values. 20) A method as in claim 1, including astep in which marks are printed on the tested tobacco products toindicate the overall assessment, or to indicate the value assigned inrespect of a given characteristic.